THATTA: Adoption of legacies left by great Sufi poets and scholars Khawaja Ghulam Fareed of Kot Mithan and Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai of Bhit Shah remains the only option to ensure tolerance and interfaith harmony in society and to get rid of terrorism.
This was stated by Khawaja Moeenuddin Mehboob, the custodian of the Dargah Hazrat Khawaja Ghulam Fareed, who is on a visit to Sindh in connection with the launch of ‘Deewan-e-Fareed Bil Tahqiq’, a book compiled by Mujahid Jatoi of Kot Mithan.
Talking to reporters and members of civil society here at Makli on Thursday, he said: “We are here to evolve a consensus concept of Sufi thoughts to be preached among the people of the Seraiki belt and Sindh.”
The launching ceremony of the book was held at the Sindhi Language Authority in Hyderabad on Wednesday night. The event was organised under the auspices of the NGOs Network.
Khawaja Mehboob said the mission-oriented teachings of Sufi saints were for changing the minds and hearts of people and time was ripe to adopt the message of Sufis to bring back tolerance and normality in Pakistan.
UNDP GEF-SGP national coordinator Masood Lohar said that not only Sindh and Pakistan but the entire world was in the grip of extremism, intolerance and other social evils.
He told the participants that Khawaja Ghulam Fareed (1845-1901) of Mithan Kot had written poems in Seraiki, Punjabi, Urdu, Sindhi, Persian and Birj Bhasha. He frequently used the symbolism of desert. However, he touched upon political affairs sometimes, vehemently opposing the British rule in Bahawalpur.
Similarly, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai (1689-1752) was one of the greatest poets of the Sindhi language, he said, adding that he was compared to great Persian poet Rumi.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University, said Sindh was the centre of Indus Civilisation and being the oldest had the honour of preaching brotherhood.
Khawaja Kaleem Koreja and Mujahid Jatoi said research and study on the life of Sufis and promotion of their message was the need of the hour.
They suggested establishment of Khawaja Ghulam Fareed chair at the universities of Sindh and Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai chair in the universities of Punjab to bring the people of two different cultures nearer to each other and evolve a joint strategy to help combat social evils, hatred, terrorism, extremism and religious intolerance.
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